The Digital Bolex: The 1st Affordable Digital Cinema Camera

$262,661

440

backers

In case you haven't visited our website, www.digitalbolex.com, the specs of the D16 as well as a wealth of other resources are available to take a look at. Please check it out!

UPDATE #2: WOW! My mother would judge me if I put expletives on the Internet so I don't know what else to say! Thank you so much for your support, everyone. We've sold 91/100 of the first line of Digital Bolex D16s in less than 2 days. We never thought we'd come anywhere near to $250,000. I know many of you guys feel that our project is a dream come true, but your support is also a dream come true. Thanks to you we can not only make this camera happen, but we can start making new mounts, new accessories, and of course a really cool custom raw processing software that will pull the most out of the D16's footage and manage its workflow. We also have a number of really cool peripherals (that we can't talk specifics of online yet, boo) that we're cooking up, and of course the HD-SDI box that mounts beneath the camera.

We'd still love whatever support you can give us until our April 11 deadline. Rock on!

- Elle

Here's the D16 prototype at the SXSW Film Festival!

UPDATE: We've reached our first milestone of $100,000 and
have sold almost half of our cameras! Thanks to everyone who donated.
But we still really need your help to make this camera the best it can
be! Our next milestone is $200,000, which will fund the manufacturing of
each of the additional mounts, as well as some of the accessories we
really want to make. $250,000 will fund the amazing software we want to
develop to manage the workflow.

Every cent of our Kickstarter
funding will go towards developing the technology and pushing the camera
as far as it can go. Keep telling your friends, liking us on Facebook,
and asking questions.

ABOUT THE CAMERA

The Digital
Bolex is a “digital cinema camera” or a camera that shoots RAW images
(sometimes known as Digital Negatives) instead of compressed video.
Unlike the digital cinema cameras used on big budget films, the Bolex is
designed with consumers as well as pros in mind, and will be
inexpensive, compact, and easy for anyone to use, just like the film
cameras many of us remember using as kids.WHAT WE NEED THE MONEY FOR

So
far we have a prototype and some great test footage, some of which you
can see above, but we need your help to produce the first 100 cameras.
It takes a lot of work put a production line together, and we can't do
it alone. It's really expensive to buy the sensors, design the
electronics, do the injection molding, developing the firmware, and do
the tooling to put the camera together.

MILESTONES

$100,000
is the bare minimum we need to produce the first batch of cameras. If
we reach $200,000 we can include a suite of post-processing software
with the camera package to manage RAW workflow. If we reach $250,000
we'll include an additional mount of your choice to anyone who buys a
camera.

If the campaign is successful, the first 100 cameras
will be available in August. After that, we’ll start taking pre-orders
from the general public and the camera will be available in Fall.

COOL INCENTIVES

All
pledges help, but to make donating worth your time and money, we have
some really cool incentives to offer, like these official Digital Bolex
T-shirts (only available through Kickstarter), silkscreen fine art
prints, and a branded, hand-crafted leather camera bag.

You can also be the first to own ONE SMALL STEP, the first film shot on the Digital Bolex.

Backing this project at the $2,500 level or above will GUARANTEE you
one of the first 100 cameras produced. Serial numbers will be
determined by pledge date, so pledge early!

WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH RAW?

Most
video cameras (even expensive ones) shoot compressed footage, so that
it takes up less space. The problem is that compressed footage, in order
to make each frame more efficient, marries all your in camera settings
(like white balance and contrast) to the video file being shot, which
makes the shot difficult or impossible to manipulate in post without
degrading image quality.

Think of the difference between a
blocky, low-res JPEG image you find online, and a smooth high-res
photographic print in a gallery. That’s the difference between
compressed, normal video footage and RAW. It’s a big difference!

A
RAW file saves a camera’s settings, but it doesn’t marry those settings
to the file. That way you can change the color balance, contrast,
highlights, shadows, white balance, and more all in post without any
loss of quality. And because RAW is uncompressed, and the frames don’t
rely on each others’ contents for efficiency, each frame stands alone,
just like a film camera. (In a video file, each frame is designed to
make the transition to the next frame as efficient as possible, so it
can be hard to isolate a focused, clear image). Like a film camera, each
RAW frame is of printable, photo quality.

IF SOME CAMERAS ALREADY SHOOT RAW, WHY DO WE NEED A DIGITAL BOLEX?

There
is no camera on the market that offers affordable RAW quality to
consumers and independent filmmakers. The Digital Bolex will mean
filmmakers who prefer an uncompressed and “film like” look won’t have to
spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to achieve that. Isn’t it time
for the digital generation to have image quality as good as our parents
had?

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $40 or more
About $40

An official Digital Bolex T-shirt, this design will be limited to kickstarter. OR a Blu-Ray copy of the Digital Bolex Short Films. If you choose the Blu-Ray it will be delivered in July.
(international buyers please add $5 for shipping)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $2,500 or more
About $2,500

OK this is it, at this pledge amount you get 1 of 100 Pre-sale Digital Bolex Cameras with serial numbers between 1 - 100. This is an $800 savings under retail price!
(Sorry No International Buyers at this time)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $3,500 or more
About $3,500

For the serious collector! A Pre-sale Digital Bolex Camera with serial number between 1 - 100 and all of the above! All of the prints, the bag, the Blu-Ray Disc, and of course our gratitude!
(Sorry No International Buyers at this time)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $10,000
About $10,000

A business starter. We will help you launch your new company or create custom co-branding opportunities with your brand and the Digital Bolex brand. Message us for more info if you're interested in this reward.